1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to pipe clamp apparatus for clamping cylindrical members such as pipe sections typically to enable welded connection of the cylindrical members. More particularly, present invention is directed to a clamp mechanism for cylindrical objects which is capable of clamping both regular and irregular shapes together and being adjustable to allow for manufacturing tolerances of the cylindrical objects being clamped and to accommodate cylindrical objects of a wide range of sizes. Even more particularly, the present invention concerns pipe clamp apparatus having a plurality of clamp members for engaging cylindrical objects to be clamped and incorporating flexible connectors such as cables, chains or pivotally connected rigid elements for interconnecting and maintaining desired spacing of the clamping members. This invention also involves pipe clamping apparatus incorporating an adjustable latch mechanism for securing the clamp about the cylindrical objects sufficiently tight to maintain the objects in aligned registry for welding or for other suitable activities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a construction industry, pipe clamp apparatus has been widely used for many years for the purpose of aligning the ends of pipes to be welded so that the pipes are concentrically arranged with the ends thereof properly spaced so that the pipe sections can be welded together. A wide variety of typically rigid pipe clamp apparatus has been developed and utilized to accomplish clamping of pipes in alignment. In most cases the pipe clamping apparatus, especially for aligning and clamping large pipes, is of rigid design and is quite heavy and cumbersome and cannot be carried, installed or removed by a single individual. Typically commercially available pipe clamp apparatus is designed with two pivotally connected rigid clamp sections. Each of the clamp sections incorporates a number of adjustable, pipe engaging elements which must be independently adjusted for clamping pipe members of a particular dimension. If the pipe members are not of identically the same dimension, due to manufacturing tolerances for example, the pipe clamp apparatus may be subject to significant adjustment to enable the pipe sections to be positioned in sufficiently close alignment that adequate welding operations can be conducted.
Under circumstances where pipe sections are intended to be cylindrical, but are somewhat misshapen due to manufacturing tolerances, manufacturing problems, etc., typical commercially available pipe clamp apparatus is not ordinarily capable of conforming misshapen pipe to a cylindrical configuration to enable its efficient welding. Typically, commercially available pipe clamp apparatus is not provided with the capability for correcting the roundness of misshapen pipe. Rather these pipe clamps merely engage each of the sections of pipe to be aligned and position the ends of the pipe sections in as close alignment as possible. Consequently, if adjacent sections of pipe can not be properly aligned because one pipe section may be somewhat misshapened, the misshapened pipe or pipes must first be corrected to achieve proper roundness before pipe alignment and welding can occur. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide pipe clamp apparatus having the capability for correcting minor defects in the roundness of pipe and for insuring precision alignment of the ends of pipe sections to permit effective welded connection thereof.
Most commercially available pipe clamp apparatus, especially for clamping large pipe sections, is quite large and cumbersome. When such pipe clamping apparatus is not being used, it is often difficult to store and handle. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide pipe clamp apparatus that can be handled by a single individual and, when storage is necessary, the pipe clamp apparatus will fit within a small storage area thereby making it efficient to utilize, handle and store.
Another problem that is typical with commercially available pipe clamping apparatus is that most pipe clamps will handle only a very limited range of pipe sizes. For this reason, when a wide variety of pipe sizes are being aligned and welded is often necessary to maintain an inventory of pipe clamp apparatus, each being capable of handling only a narrow range of pipe sizes. This inventory requirement however adds significant cost to overall construction operations. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide pipe clamping apparatus having the capability for clamping a wide variety of pipe sizes thereby enabling inventory requirements for pipe clamp apparatus to be limited.
Another problem that is typical of commercially available pipe clamp apparatus is that the rigid pipe clamp sections that are typically used and the various adjustment mechanisms that are incorporated within each of the pipe sections results in the pipe joint to be welded being somewhat hidden by the pipe clamp apparatus. This can require repositioning of pipe clamp apparatus a number of times during each welding operation. This problem significantly adds to the labor costs of the welding operation and therefore is detrimental to overall construction costs. It is desirable therefor to provide pipe clamp apparatus that is of simple construction and when in position to properly orient adjacent pipe sections, permits virtually all of the pipe joint to be readily accessible for welding operations.